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Bob and Mike Bryan (USA) celebrate victory
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Six weeks into his retirement, the 35-year-old Hewitt suited up again, deciding on Friday night to share the team workload and extending his Davis Cup playing records to a 42nd tie and 18th year representing his country. It was a heck of an encore.
When the first-time pairing nabbed the fourth set with a textbook I-formation point - Peers serving down the middle and Hewitt powering away a volley - and the Fanatics launched into a brassy rendition of 80s classic The Boys Light Up by local rockers Australian Crawl, first-time captain Hewitt was looking like an ace up the Aussies’ sleeve.
But come the fifth set, the 37-year-old Bryan brothers showed precisely why they are America’s most successful Davis Cup duo. With brutal efficiency, they swept the first eight points, breaking Peers in the second game with two stinging backhand winners down the line off the racquet of right-hander Mike.
Formidable front-runners, the Bryans conceded just two points on serve in the final set. The bigger serving Bob did not drop a point, closing it out with the signature Bryans’ one-two punch: a heavy first serve and a winning volley from Mike.
“I just think we did a great job of regrouping,” summed up Bob. “Credit to Mike, he hit a couple of great returns early in that fifth set.” Though the Bryans haven’t played Davis Cup in a year, their left-right attack, humming efficiency and twin telepathy saw them take their awesome Davis Cup record to 24-4 (with Mike pipping his twin for the all-time tally, winning two more rubbers alongside Mardy Fish).
Nor did the Bryans profess surprise at Hewitt taking the court. “Lleyton played more than anyone in practice,” noted Mike. “He was 10 feet away, playing singles and doubles.”
“The level was incredible from both sides of the net,” observed US captain Jim Courier, unaccustomed to his doubles standouts giving him so many anxious moments courtside. “Obviously it got very complicated there after the second set. But they really put a stamp on it early in the fifth.”
Peers made an impressively nerveless debut against and alongside Davis Cup giants. The 27-year-old, ranked a career-high No.7 last September after making the Wimbledon and US Open finals with Jamie Murray, held his first service game to love and hardly put a foot wrong in the first two sets, showcasing fast hands and volleying nous and more than holding his own. “He played on a par with all the guys out there,” according to Mike.
If Peers looked at home on Kooyong’s
centre court, it may have had something to do with it being his family
club with his mother, the former Fed Cup player Elizabeth Little (a
14-time club champion at Kooyong) and sister Sally supporting in the
stands.
It was the veteran Hewitt who was broken first, in the fourth game. In the seventh, the Aussies had an opportunity at 0-40 on Mike Bryan’s serve but the brothers coolly held for 5-2, and Bob served out the opener.
In the second, it was lefty Bob who first stared down a breakpoint. He held for 3-all with big serving, before Hewitt was broken for 4-3 and then Peers for the set upon leaving Bob’s return to land well inside the baseline on set point, a rare lapse that reflected the relentless pressure from the Americans.
But as Hewitt later noted: “We didn’t doubt ourselves at any stage during the match.” On their ninth break chance, connecting on some big returns, the Aussies broke Mike Bryan for 4-3 in the third set and carried the advantage for the set, Peers securing it 64 with a fine backhand volley winner.
An early break in the fourth to the Aussies, again taking Mike’s service game and a 2-1 lead, had the stadium rocking. Despite wasting four rare break chances on Bob’s serve, the Aussies carried the set 64 Peers serving it out to love. Entering the fifth set, the game Aussies had exceeded expectations. But they’d won just two of 15 breakpoints; the Bryans would not offer them another.
This always loomed as the rubber the Aussies were least likely to win. “‘Whichever pair we picked had an outside chance,” confirmed Hewitt.
The US team has bagged the swing rubber, but Courier is not exactly resting easy. “Exciting day for sure tomorrow and looks like it’ll be a toasty one again,” he said previewing the battle between No.1s - John Isner v Bernard Tomic - in tomorrow’s fourth rubber.
“John is maybe the fresher,” Courier conceded, given his spearhead’s straight-sets win over Sam Groth on Friday. “But we’re gonna be ready for a fifth [rubber]. We’ll be ready for that eventuality.”
And the eventuality of another left-field move from Hewitt? Like playing the fifth rubber? The Aussie warrior would not rule it out. “I feel comfortable playing singles or doubles,” he said cagily. Hewitt has a 2-0 record against Jack Sock, their last meeting at the Hopman Cup just weeks ago. As for the added stress of playing as captain, Hewitt wasn’t buying it. “Didn’t feel a lot different, to tell the truth,” said Australia’s most decorated Davis Cup player. “I didn’t doubt myself at all.”
Source: DavisCup.com
It was the veteran Hewitt who was broken first, in the fourth game. In the seventh, the Aussies had an opportunity at 0-40 on Mike Bryan’s serve but the brothers coolly held for 5-2, and Bob served out the opener.
In the second, it was lefty Bob who first stared down a breakpoint. He held for 3-all with big serving, before Hewitt was broken for 4-3 and then Peers for the set upon leaving Bob’s return to land well inside the baseline on set point, a rare lapse that reflected the relentless pressure from the Americans.
But as Hewitt later noted: “We didn’t doubt ourselves at any stage during the match.” On their ninth break chance, connecting on some big returns, the Aussies broke Mike Bryan for 4-3 in the third set and carried the advantage for the set, Peers securing it 64 with a fine backhand volley winner.
An early break in the fourth to the Aussies, again taking Mike’s service game and a 2-1 lead, had the stadium rocking. Despite wasting four rare break chances on Bob’s serve, the Aussies carried the set 64 Peers serving it out to love. Entering the fifth set, the game Aussies had exceeded expectations. But they’d won just two of 15 breakpoints; the Bryans would not offer them another.
This always loomed as the rubber the Aussies were least likely to win. “‘Whichever pair we picked had an outside chance,” confirmed Hewitt.
The US team has bagged the swing rubber, but Courier is not exactly resting easy. “Exciting day for sure tomorrow and looks like it’ll be a toasty one again,” he said previewing the battle between No.1s - John Isner v Bernard Tomic - in tomorrow’s fourth rubber.
“John is maybe the fresher,” Courier conceded, given his spearhead’s straight-sets win over Sam Groth on Friday. “But we’re gonna be ready for a fifth [rubber]. We’ll be ready for that eventuality.”
And the eventuality of another left-field move from Hewitt? Like playing the fifth rubber? The Aussie warrior would not rule it out. “I feel comfortable playing singles or doubles,” he said cagily. Hewitt has a 2-0 record against Jack Sock, their last meeting at the Hopman Cup just weeks ago. As for the added stress of playing as captain, Hewitt wasn’t buying it. “Didn’t feel a lot different, to tell the truth,” said Australia’s most decorated Davis Cup player. “I didn’t doubt myself at all.”
Source: DavisCup.com
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